The Arctic waters have proven a formidable foe for Royal Dutch Shell, and its efforts to extract oil there require continuing scientific research, says Michael Macrander, Shell’s chief scientist in Alaska.

Shell is in a special position to understand the difficulties. It has invested nearly $6 billion in its Arctic oil ambitions over nearly a decade, culminating in a problem-plagued preliminary drilling mission to the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in 2012. Equipment difficulties kept the company from going back in 2013, and it recently abandoned efforts to assemble a fleet of barges, tugboats, tankers and drilling equipment in the Chukchi Sea this year.

“It’s a challenging place to operate, so in order to operate there, we need to be able to provide a good understanding of the physical conditions and how to deal with them,” Macrander said during a luncheon presentation on the first day of this week’s Arctic Technology Conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Shell collaborates every year with more than 200 researchers from consulting companies, universities and research organizations, as well as with other companies that work in Arctic areas including Houston-based ConocoPhillips. Shell and its partners have studied the Chukchi Sea and its marine life since 2008.

But Shell’s science program isn’t just a way to learn how to search for oil without damaging the ecosystem. Before it could start digging into the Arctic seabed, Shell had to acquire dozens of state and federal permits and prove it understood how drilling activity would affect the region and its ecosystem.
And it faces the same process before it can drill there again.

“The unfortunate reality is that in the absence of adequate scientific information to support permitting, agencies are prone to adopt a precautionary approach,” Macrander said. “So the only way we can move beyond precaution is to help develop, comment on and engage in the science that the regulators need.”

Shell, Macrander said, has determined from aerial and sonic data that its drilling activities only affected Bowhead whale migration patterns in a small area surrounding the drill site. And — good news for indigenous hunters living near Alaskan shores -– it could be that the drilling has pushed the whales closer to land.

The company also has improved its understanding of other animals migration patterns, ice and weather forecasting, Macrander said. It has hired a team of scientists to interpret data and generate maps of ice and weather data to help guide its vessels through the cold waters, Macrander said.

“I think through this program and other programs we’ve revolutionized the understanding of this ecosystem,” he said.

One August morning two years ago, Macrander was greeted outside his office by reporters asking about the existence of deep-sea coral in the waters close to the areas Shell planned to drill.

Media outlets had reported that Greenpeace marine biologists had found the first coral ever collected in the Chukchi Sea. But Shell had known for years that deep-sea coral was part of the region’s rich ecosystem, Macrander said.

“We had literature, citations and such that this was well known to science,” he said. “But had we not made that investment in the science and had the knowledge base, that could have stopped our 2012 drilling program before it ever got started.”

The drillship Noble Discoverer, boring a well in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska in 2012. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

The drillship Noble Discoverer, boring a well in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska in 2012. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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The drillship Noble Discoverer, boring a well in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska in 2012. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

The drillship Noble Discoverer, boring a well in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska in 2012. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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The drillship Noble Discoverer, boring a well in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska in 2012. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

The drillship Noble Discoverer, boring a well in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska in 2012. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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Donald LeCourt, Shell Alaska's wells HSE team leader, and other workers take a helicopter ride to the Noble Discoverer during a crew change on Oct. 9, 2012. In preparation for the hour-long flights over frigid Arctic waters, crew members must complete helicopter underwater escape training and don one-piece Mustang Survival immersion suits filled with foam for insulation and buoyancy. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle) less

Donald LeCourt, Shell Alaska's wells HSE team leader, and other workers take a helicopter ride to the Noble Discoverer during a crew change on Oct. 9, 2012. In preparation for the hour-long flights over frigid ... more

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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Workers step off a helicopter onto the Noble Discoverer during a crew change Oct. 9, 2012. Most Shell employees and some contractors on the vessel generally work three week shifts -- with three-week breaks in between the stints. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle) less

Workers step off a helicopter onto the Noble Discoverer during a crew change Oct. 9, 2012. Most Shell employees and some contractors on the vessel generally work three week shifts -- with three-week breaks in ... more

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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Shown here is one of the two cranes on the drillship Noble Discoverer, which Shell is using to search for oil in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska. The cranes can't be used once the temperature dips below 0 degrees celsius -- a challenge in this chilly, Arctic environment. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle) less

Shown here is one of the two cranes on the drillship Noble Discoverer, which Shell is using to search for oil in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska. The cranes can't be used once the temperature dips below 0 ... more

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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Onboard the Noble Discoverer, workers on the rig floor link up drill pipe. Shell is using the ship and its crew to finish the first half of a well in its Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea -- with a plan to return next year and drill it to completion. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle) less

Onboard the Noble Discoverer, workers on the rig floor link up drill pipe. Shell is using the ship and its crew to finish the first half of a well in its Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea -- with a plan to ... more

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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Senior Drilling Supervisor Loyd Wallace was overseeing work on the Noble Discoverer when it drilled the first foot of Shell's latest Chukchi Sea well -- the first of its kind in more than two decades. Wallace said it felt like Christmas. "Everybody was excited," Wallace said. "Everybody was taking pictures." (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle) less

Senior Drilling Supervisor Loyd Wallace was overseeing work on the Noble Discoverer when it drilled the first foot of Shell's latest Chukchi Sea well -- the first of its kind in more than two decades. Wallace ... more

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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Kendall Duncan, assistant rig manager, and driller Sheldon Smith coordinate operations inside the drill shack on the Noble Discoverer. Duncan, who is from Poplarville, Miss., says he is still adjusting to the Arctic climate -- including the patches of ice that appear on the vessel. "It's like waking up in the Twilight Zone," Duncan says. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle) less

Kendall Duncan, assistant rig manager, and driller Sheldon Smith coordinate operations inside the drill shack on the Noble Discoverer. Duncan, who is from Poplarville, Miss., says he is still adjusting to the ... more

The blowout preventer on the Noble Discoverer drillship has two sets of shearing rams meant to cut through drill pipe in case of an emergency. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

The blowout preventer on the Noble Discoverer drillship has two sets of shearing rams meant to cut through drill pipe in case of an emergency. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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A view of the 160-foot-tall derrick on the Noble Discoverer. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

A view of the 160-foot-tall derrick on the Noble Discoverer. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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Casing sits on the Noble Discoverer, ready to be run in the first half of the well Shell is drilling in the Chukchi Sea. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Casing sits on the Noble Discoverer, ready to be run in the first half of the well Shell is drilling in the Chukchi Sea. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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Casing sits on the Noble Discoverer, ready to be run in the first half of the well Shell is drilling in the Chukchi Sea. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Casing sits on the Noble Discoverer, ready to be run in the first half of the well Shell is drilling in the Chukchi Sea. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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Pete Slaiby, the vice president of Shell Alaska, surveys the scene on the drillship Noble Discoverer before leaving the vessel on Oct. 9, 2012. As Shell's top executive in Alaska, Slaiby is overseeing the company's new venture in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle) less

Pete Slaiby, the vice president of Shell Alaska, surveys the scene on the drillship Noble Discoverer before leaving the vessel on Oct. 9, 2012. As Shell's top executive in Alaska, Slaiby is overseeing the ... more

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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Waves from the Chukchi Sea lap the coast of Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in the United States. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Waves from the Chukchi Sea lap the coast of Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in the United States. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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An aerial view of Barrow, Alaska. With a relatively small footprint of about 22 square miles, the city is home to just over 4,000 residents. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)

An aerial view of Barrow, Alaska. With a relatively small footprint of about 22 square miles, the city is home to just over 4,000 residents. (Photo: Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle)